Chapter 20 Hazy Days

The next day the team woke up bright and early once more. They gathered in the forest behind Tazuna's house after breakfast to continue training. Kakashi and Naruto had an unspoken agreement that they would not tell Kiba or Sasuke about the assassination.

"Yo everyone, are you ready to learn a new jutsu today?" Kakashi asked lazily.

"Hn."

"Yeah!"

"Arf!"

"..."

"What's wrong Naruto? That wasn't a very energetic response." Kakashi asked.

"Hmm? Oh sorry Sensei, did you say something?" Naruto said distractedly, he was still busy plotting his next moves against Gato.

Kakashi stumbled backwards and clutched his chest as if he had taken a grievous wound. He shed a few tears. They were growing up so fast!

"Ah. Nothing. Don't worry about it Naruto."

Naruto shrugged, "If you say so Sensei."

"Alright we'll start with Sasuke this time. Sasuke, as i said before I will be teaching you the electromagnetic murder jutsu. This jutsu releases a wave of electricity from your hands. You can vary its power from a small shock to a powerful stream of lighting depending on how much chakra you put into it. This is a short range attack so be mindful, though you can channel the electricity through other objects to attack an opponent. The hand seals are boar, ram, snake, horse, and dragon. Start small and then work your way up. Understood?"

Sasuke flashed through the hand seals once and then nodded at Kakashi. "I got it Sensei."

Kakashi watched his hand signs with an approving look and then turned to Kiba. "Next is Kiba. The clones generated by the rock clone jutsu don't disappear when struck but revert back to rock. The hand signs are ram, monkey, horse, and ram. You know what clones can do, come up with some ideas for this jutsu."

"Okay Sensei! I'll have this down in no time just watch me."

"Hah. Dobe, you could barely get the normal Bunshin down." Sasuke scoffed.

"Hey! Shut up Sasuke! Bite me!" Kiba shouted.

"Maa maa… Calm down. Go train already Sasuke. Start with the nature transformation exercise before starting the jutsu."

"Hn."

"Now Naruto, how are you doing with that balloon?"

Naruto looked at the other two who had already wandered off to train. He hesitated, then he pulled out the balloon from the day before and popped it in Kakashi's face.

"Haha. Very funny." Kakashi said drolly.

'This kid just mastered the first step in a day?' He thought.

"Well? What's next?" Naruto prodded when Kakashi refused to respond for a while.

"Ah." Kakashi pulled a rubber ball out from his pocket and tossed it at Naruto. Naruto caught the ball without much difficulty. "The next step is power. You do the same thing but with a rubber ball. Make the ball explode by forcing chakra into it. It's much harder without the water. You must increase the density and volume of your chakra output." Kakashi said.

Naruto looked at the ball in his hand and shot Kakashi a look. "You just had that in your pocket?"

Kakashi stared evenly back.

Naruto shrugged, he concentrated on the ball. Spin and power.

Pop! The ball exploded into pieces.

Kakashi's jaw dropped. The power stage had taken him several days to do and his student just did it first try!

He sighed, Naruto was truly his Sensei's son.

"Here Naruto, the last step." Kakashi took out another balloon and inflated it through his mask. "The last step is containment. You combine the first two steps into a contained sphere. If the balloon pops it means you've failed." Kakashi handed it over. He expected that Naruto would have a much harder time with this last step. Naruto had exploded the rubber ball with too much ease after all.

Naruto took the balloon in hand and concentrated again. Spin, power, and containment. His old mantra from when he was first developing the jutsu came back to him. The balloon in his hand began vibrating slightly, a sign of a successful Rasengan.

Kakashi gave up. Naruto mastered the rasengan in two days, probably less since the first balloon he gave Naruto wasn't even touched.

Suddenly from the back of Minato's mind a voice rang out, "So this is the jutsu that is your imitation of our Tailed Beast Bomb? Pathetic."

Minato grew a tick mark on his forehead. 'This jutsu took me three years to develop. It wasn't easy you know?

Kurama snickered as Minato dissipated the jutsu in the balloon. "It is so much weaker than the real thing."

'Not everyone has as much chakra as the tailed beasts. This was the best I could do as a human.'

"Heh. That's because you are all weak you cannot possibly hope to match our strength."

'And yet look who is sealed.' Minato thought to himself wryly.

'Well you know what they say, 'imitation is the greatest form of flattery…''

"Hmph. Indeed. The Tailed Beast Bomb is one of our best abilities. You are a fool to hope to match it."

'Perhaps you could teach me then? I don't suppose you would want your vessel running about with a pale imitation after all.'

"Do not think I cannot tell what you are doing. I will think on this."

'Ahaha please do Kurama-san.'

Naruto then formed a Rasengan without the balloon and showed it to Kakashi. "So, what do you think Sensei?"

Kakashi covered his face with a hand, "I think you are a ridiculous child. I thought you were supposed to be the least troublesome one? At the very least my worries about you going to assassinate Gato have subsided slightly."

"Aah. I thought they might, that's why I rushed through the steps just now."

Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair roughly. Naruto squirmed and batted his hand off with a huff.

"Let's go see how the others are doing." Naruto said escaping Kakashi's reach.

Kakashi chuckled and followed behind Naruto sedately.

Soon though, his young student would be staining his hands with blood. He worried for Naruto's innocence. He didn't want his student to lose that light in his eyes. Sometimes he felt that Naruto had grown too fast because of his less than stellar childhood. The kid was mature beyond his years and he often motherhenned Sasuke and Kiba even more than Kakashi did. Kakashi saw a lot of his Sensei in Naruto. It was almost painful. He often wondered if he would have cared less about Naruto if Naruto acted less like his father. Teaching Naruto was a little like having his Sensei back after all…

Naruto slowed down a little from his previous quick pace, having sensed Kakashi's sudden melancholy. He turned to him expectantly and asked, "Ne. Sensei… Are you alright?"

Kakashi started out of his depressive thoughts, he eye smiled at Naruto and motioned him along.

Naruto tilted his head at Kakashi, maybe now was a good time?

"Hey Sensei, why are you always so late?"

"Maa… I just get lost on the road of life every so often you know?"

"Sensei. It's not healthy to be in constant mourning. I'm sure your precious people would have wanted you to move on by now."

Kakashi didn't have words for Naruto. Naruto walked back over to Kakashi and hugged him tightly. "I know it's hard, but you have to move on."

Kakashi awkwardly peeled Naruto off of him and patted him on the head again. "Thanks Naruto, but now's not a good time for this."

"Now is a fine time for this. You need to know that my father wouldn't want you wallowing in grief constantly like this. Nor would Rin and Obito want you to waste your life away in front of the memorial stone."

Kakashi choked on his spit. "H-How? How do you?"

"My father's journal had a lot of regrets in it you know? He regrets not being a better teacher for you Kakashi."

"No! He was an amazing teacher! Why would he have regrets?" Kakashi blurted out.

Naruto smiled slightly sadly, "He wanted to be there more for you, he regretted not being able to pull you out of your depression."

Suddenly a shout of frustration came from up ahead of them interrupting the moment.

Kakashi quickly walked off and Minato was left behind to wonder if his words had reached his old student.

Kakashi and Minato arrived at another clearing where Kiba was beating up a human shaped lump of rock.

"Stupid jutsu! I'll get it this time just you watch Akamaru!"

Akamaru barked reprovingly.

"Aww come on… Working on the exercise is so boring though."

Akamaru huffed at Kiba and turned his back on him.

"Fine. Fine. Akamaru I'll work on the stupid mud thing." Kiba huffily walked over to a rock and sat down. He scooped up a lump of mud and concentrated on it. "Dumb mud." He muttered under his breath.

Naruto chuckled under his breath. Kakashi chuckled as well, then disappeared to find Sasuke. Naruto quickly followed.

Sasuke was sitting high up in a tree with his hands a few inches apart. His face was strained in concentration as he determinedly stared at the air between his hands. A few sparks flew between his hands but didn't last long enough to create a current that Sasuke was aiming for. Sasuke growled and tried again.

Minato smiled at the boy's progress. Minato himself had difficulty with the lightning exercise as well. It had taken him two days to get to the point that Sasuke was at in one. But his wind and fire training on the other hand had gone much faster so he supposed he couldn't complain.

Kakashi gestured to Naruto to follow him. Naruto obediently followed his teacher a little distance away from both his teammates.

Kakashi crossed his arms once they had walked far enough, "So have you thought about what you're going to do for the assassination?"

Naruto nodded decisively at him, "I'm going to kill Gato using one of his mercenary's weapons and make it look like they turned on him. I'll steal what I can and seal it into a sealing scroll and transfer the rights to the company to Konoha."

Kakashi hummed, "Are you scouting his base tonight then?"

"Yeah, hopefully I can find an easy way in. Getting out should be no problem."

"Indeed… I'll throw your kunai if Zabuza arrives to warn you."

"Sounds good."

"Be careful tonight. We don't really need Sasuke or Kiba knowing, they'll complain about being left out. Leave a shadow clone behind when you leave."

"Hai, Sensei."

That night Minato quietly slipped out of Tazuna's house after Kiba had fallen asleep. For some reason Sasuke had decided to stay out and train that night. Minato henged into an old fisherman and went into town to collect information on where Gato's base of operations was. He visited several bars and subtly pumped the bar goers for info.

He soon learned the whereabouts of Gato's and went to investigate with several clones. Naruto himself stayed out of Gato's base while his clones henged as small animals and slipped inside. He simply stretched his senses out to the surroundings to see the amount of mercenaries Gato had in his employ. There were quite a few patrolling the base and Minato counted at least 130 in the base alone. Minato also felt the chakra signatures of Zabuza and his partner in the base.

Gato's base was interesting looking. It was essentially a very large triangular tree house suspended several feet in the air.

It was connected to several other tree with large cables that any skilled shinobi could use to enter.

Minato plotted out a good entrance that he could use and then vanished from the area.

The next morning Minato arrived at the breakfast table with a huge yawn. Tazuna chuckled at him and asked, "What's wrong? Didn't sleep well?"

"Maa… something like that." Naruto said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Tazuna looked around the table and noted the missing member. "Sasuke stayed out all night huh?"

Kiba blinked sleepily and looked around the table, "Huh? Oh yeah. He's been working real hard on mastering that new jutsu of his. If he runs out of chakra he could be laying dead somewhere though."

Tsunami brought a dish over to the table, "I hope he's alright. It's not good for a boy to spend a night outside all alone…"

Kakashi lazily spoke from where he was sitting on the ground, "there's nothing to worry about. Sasuke is a serious kid, he's a full fledged ninja too. He can take care of himself."

"Bah." Kiba waved his hand dismissively, "I'll go look for him later and see if he hasn't killed himself."

Sasuke had fallen asleep on the forest floor after exhausting himself with training. A few small sparrows landed on and around him chirping happily.

A beautiful youth in a pink kimono stood over him with a thoughtful expression on their face. They crouched and reached down towards his neck before suddenly, their hand was grabbed. Sasuke opened his eyes,

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked harshly.

"I was going to wake you, you'll catch a cold sleeping on the ground like this." The youth calmly replied with a smile.

"Oh. Thank you but the concern is unnecessary." Sasuke replied sitting up.

"Very well then, I'll leave you to it." The youth said standing up again

Sasuke tilted his head curiously, "What are you doing out here so early?"

"I'm picking medicinal herbs for a friend of mine, they're sick."

"I see…Do you need any help?"

"Oh why thank you! Please gather a few plant that look like this." They said holding up a certain plant.

Sasuke nodded and set about gathering plants from the clearing.

They worked in silence for a while before the youth asked, "So what were you doing in the middle of nowhere at the crack of dawn?"

Sasuke grunted, "Training."

The youth looked up at him slightly startled, "Really? That headband of yours… Are you some kind of ninja?"

"Hn." Sasuke nodded slightly.

"Wow that's incredible. What are you training for?"

"To get stronger."

"Oh? But you look so strong already?"

Sasuke looked away. "Hn. There are many others out there that are stronger than me."

"But why do you need strength so badly?"

Sasuke pauses from picking herbs and sat back, "...There's a certain person who I'm chasing, I have to become stronger than they are to learn the truth…"

The youth leaned forwards slightly, "Are you doing this for the sake of that person or yourself?"

Sasuke tilted his head in confusion and quirked a brow.

The youth chuckled slightly, "Do you have anyone special in your life?" They paused in thought for a bit, a somber expression passed across their face. "I believe when people are protecting something truly precious to them. They truly can become as strong as they must be!"

Sasuke leaned back and thought on their words for a bit. He thought about the remaining family he had. He thought about Haruka's innocence, Izumi's love, Yamada's pranks, Izuru's laziness, Genki's awkwardness, Sachi's energy, and Haruto's cheer. He thought about Naruto's steady presence and Kiba's constant exuberance. He thought about Kakashi's calmness and various quirks.

He nodded at the youth.

The youth smiled and stood to leave, they turned to walk away, "You will get stronger. I know we'll meet again."

Sasuke stood and grunted in response.

Kiba ran up to them but quickly stopped once he caught sight of the youth. He drooled a bit but recovered his mind in an instant, "Hey! Sasuke! You missed breakfast you looser! And hellooo beautiful what are you doing out here all on your own? You need any help with anything? I'm super strong! I bet I can help you with whatever you need!" He bragged.

The youth quickened his pace as he walked away, "I'm a boy you know?" He shot over his back as he disappeared into the woods.

Kiba's jaw dropped. He spluttered wildly and flailed his arms. He looked at Sasuke, "B-but he was so pretty! H-he was prettier than the girls at the academy!"

Sasuke stood there deep in thought, he had a few suspicions about the boy but he wasnt sure of anything.

A few days later Kakashi had recovered enough to begin exercising again. He enlisted the help of both Tazuna and Naruto to sit on his back as he did push ups on one finger.

Tazuna spoke as he was lifted up and down by Kakashi, "I keep meaning to ask you. You know I duped you about how dangerous this mission was to get you to come here… So why do you stay?"

"'To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward. Like master like man!' Those are the teachings of some of our previous Hokage. This is the Shinobi way of life… True Shinobi do not merely dance to the tune of whoever pays the piper." Kakashi replied.

Minato smiled, he remembered saying those exact words to Kakashi once. To think he had remembered throughout all these years. He was truly proud of the man Kakashi had become.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Sasuke and Kiba had returned from training with triumphant looks. They both explained that they had mastered their respective jutsus and that was it. Tazuna laughed at their battered appearances while Kakashi congratulated them. Both boys ate much more sedately. They ate carefully to avoid throwing up and wasting food again.

Inari glared resentfully at them as Tazuna and Tsunami chattered in the background.

Tears began pooling at the corners of Inari's eyes as he stared at Kiba's contented resting form.

Kiba looked up at the crying boy curiously, "What's wrong kid?"

Inari stood and slammed his hands on the table, "Why do you wear yourself out trying!? No matter how hard you train you'll never be a match for Gato's thugs! You act all cool and talk all tough. But big strong guys like Gato's thugs are always too much for people weaker than they are. They'll destroy you!"

"Feh. I'm not you kid. You don't know a thing about me. Who knows maybe I've beaten up one or two big strong guys in the past." Kiba said.

"And you don't know a thing about me! You don't know a thing about suffering or loneliness or what my life is like!" Inari shouted back.

"Hmph. Don't assume things brat." Sasuke said standing with his head lowered. "You big crybaby you think it's alright to just sit around moping? Why don't you do something to improve your situation then?" Sasuke stood and left the room.

Inari sat there sobbing quietly. Naruto sighed, "Inari… Sasuke and I probably understand you better than anyone else here."

Inari looked up at him confused.

"Sasuke's family was murdered by his brother. He understands loneliness better than anyone else. I grew up on my own without parents, family, or friends. Neither of us cries much, mostly because we've learned that crying doesn't accomplish anything. Besides, you keep trying to make us leave. Does that mean you don't believe in your grandpa's dream?

"No! Absolutely not! What do you mean!?" Inari shouted.

"Well you see. If we leave that means Gato will be free to kill your grandpa. If we stay there's a chance to keep your grandpa alive so that he can free Wave from Gatos control yes? Your grandpa knows what it means to be strong and what it costs. As well as what it's worth. Just like your father."

Inari's eyes widened. Tazuna and Tsunami smiled at each other. Kakashi had a proud smile hidden by his mask, Naruto had said exactly what he'd wanted to say to Inari.

Inari looked wonderingly at his grandpa who smiled wryly back at him. He got up and hugged the old man tightly, sniffling into his shirt. Tazuna hugged Inari back just as tightly, rocking the boy gently.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the support everyone! 100 reviews! woot!